将种子保存在 DNA 中：比特币作为信息

我最近将比特币种子短语转换为 DNA 序列，因为我可以。

仅使用 BIP39 种子词的前四个字母，12 个单词的种子短语就可以存储在仅 48 个核苷酸的 DNA 中。

（作为比较，基因的平均长度为数千个核苷酸，而完整的人类基因组包含超过 30 亿个核苷酸）。

任何遗传学研究生都可以在短短几天内将我的种子词序列转化为实际的 DNA 链，并将该 DNA 插入

但为什么信息如此难以控制呢？

也许是因为信息是宇宙的基本实体。

几个世纪以来，科学家们一直认为宇宙仅由物质和能量组成。

今天，我们知道它是由物质、能量和信息组成的。

信息可以存储在物质中并使用能量进行传输，但信息本身两者都不是。

爱因斯坦向我们表明，物质和能量是可以互换的（E=mc2），但

代码和语言

Syntax refers to the code or grammar used for transmitting information. A code is a set of symbols that represent temporally or spatially interconnectable bits of information. That is, symbols can be strung together in time or space to achieve the next level of information (semantics). The symbols used can vary tremendously. They include, among other things, the letters that make up an alphabet, hand gestures (e.g., American Sign Language), musical notes (e.g., those old modem connections and touch tone phones), or the nucleotides in DNA and RNA. The number of symbols used can vary, as well. Most alphabets use 20-35 letters, the nucleotide code uses four chemicals (abbreviated A, U, C, and G), and the binary code employed by computers has just two symbols (0 and 1) representing the on and off states. The number and type of symbols employed are not selected randomly. For instance, they may be determined by the mode of transmission or to meet a specific need (Table 1).

Table 1: Symbols may be chosen for mode of transmission or to meet a specific need.

A common code is essential for information to be successfully communicated. That is, the code must be known to both the sender and the receiver. Also, because the code is not itself the information but merely the purveyor of information, any particular code can be translated to any other code. For example, written human languages can be translated from one to another:

Go tell it on the mountain…

Va le dire sur la montagne…

Ve a contario en la montaña…

The above phrase can also be translated, using human eyes, brain, and mouth, from symbols on a page into sound waves (acoustic symbols) in the air, which can be picked up by a microphone and converted to electrical signals in wires and then to radio waves transmitted through space to be picked up by an antenna on the space station, turned back into electrical signals, and then converted by a speaker back into sound waves to be heard by the ears of another human. In the ears of our human astronaut, the signal is converted from waves of air to waves of fluid in the cochlea and then to electrical nerve impulses carried to the brain to be interpreted by neurons. In the brain, those neurons somehow make sense of the original string of symbols, which brings us to the next level of information: semantics or meaning.

Semantics, Pragmatics, and Apobetics

Semantics is the meaning or intent of a message (a string of symbols). The allocation of meaning to symbols is a mental process. This doesn’t happen at the machine level but at the human level. When you read a book, you are not interested in fidelity (unless it is lacking) or syntax (unless the grammar is horrible or it’s a language you do not understand). Instead, you are interested in the meaning conveyed by the message, i.e., the semantics. Although computers can store and transmit information with ease, and can even perform logic operations via transistors, they cannot meaningfully interpret information the way a human can. Do raspberry pi nodes, hardware wallets, or ASICs understand Bitcoin the way a human does? I think not.

The aim of meaningful communication is to prompt some action in the recipient. This aim for action represents the pragmatic level of information. The reason the sender wishes to prompt this response is the purpose of the information, which is the apobetic level of information. These highest levels of information require genuine intelligence on both parties, even a will. Whether or not computers can ever possess a will remains to be seen.

“Go tell it on the mountain…” is a string of symbols (code) that create a meaningful message (semantics) with the sender expecting (apobetics) some response from the receiver (pragmatics). The message can only be received if transmitted adequately (good fidelity).

Bitcoin as Information

Bitcoin (the program) is computer code written in a particular coding language. From the software to the blockchain to the key pairs of wallets, bitcoin is information. This information can be stored, transmitted, and replicated in flash drives, printed books, or DNA molecules. Because it is now so widely dispersed, it is virtually impossible at this point to destroy. Politicians and bankers may not like it, but the genie is out of the bottle and cannot be stopped now. As they say, you cannot ban Bitcoin, you can only ban yourself from using Bitcoin.

Fidelity and syntax are the operational parts of information. Semantics, pragmatics, and apobetics are the higher levels of information concerned with the purpose and response of intelligent beings based on the meaning of the message. In Bitcoin, fidelity – or clarity of transmission – is achieved by the internet (and has even been accomplished by HAM radio) connecting a network of nodes, miners, and wallets. The syntax of Bitcoin consists of the coding languages used to write and execute Bitcoin Core and related software on those devices. The meaning, or semantics, of Bitcoin is a perfectly scarce, immutable, digital token. The highest purposes of Bitcoin – the pragmatics and apobetics – are demonstrated in the users that run miners, nodes, and wallets who are motivated and seeking to secure their wealth from theft, either by robbery or debasement.

互联网现在是一个成熟的、高保真的通信系统。

如果不同时摧毁我们所知的人类，就不可能摧毁它。

比特币使用的计算机代码和语言分布广泛，因此消除它们基本上是不可能的。

但即使你能以某种方式破坏网络的保真度和语法，比特币的

这是 Daniel Howell 的客座文章。

所表达的观点完全是他们自己的，并不一定反映 BTC Inc 或比特币杂志的观点。

资料来源：比特币杂志

《在 DNA 中保存种子：比特币作为信息》一文首先出现在《加密突发新闻》上。